Sons of Anarchy Recap 10/8/13 – ‘The Mad King’

Similar to the way the events following the premiere’s school shooting were handled, Toric’s sudden death at last episode’s end of The Sons of Anarchy, is mostly glossed over in tonight’s installment, “The Mad King.”

There’s little mention of him: Chucky gives us an indirect acknowledgment, through Gemma’s probings as to how he is dealing with Otto’s death, who we are reminded saved the handless custodian of Teller-Morrow from his own demise, by hooking him up with the Sons’ protection after he got out of prison (*); Patterson, the D.A., also drops him a reference, though she doesn’t use his given name, instead obliquely mentioning her “special investigator’s” beliefs regarding the MC’s implication in the shooting, prior to his death; lastly, Tara discusses him with her lawyer, who pretty clearly states that despite what seemed to be good news in the death of her most obvious foe, is not exactly such, given that Toric’s death by the hands’ of a member of the MC could be construed as a conspiracy to kill the chief witness against them.

*And even this seems mostly an excuse to get Chucky on screen long enough for him to tell Gemma the clubhouse needed beer– set-up for the pay-off at episode’s end when Jax and Chibs realize the keg’s Chucky thinks “Gemma must’ve ordered” are rigged to explode while the MC are all present in the clubhouse. That said, for a character that mostly seems to stick around for one-off gags and whose principal growth over the length of the series (I forgot, but he’s been around since the first season! ) has been in no longer constantly saying “I accept that,” the show manages to get a lot out of him plot-wise, for better or worse.